Mergers & Acquisitions - Success or Failure?

Project Report from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,0, , course: Strategic Management and Business Policy, language: English, abstract: Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) are an increasingly important instrument for direct investment and growth in companies all over the world. They are very complex procedures, prior researches show that approximately 64% of all M&A¿s do not produce the expected benefits, more than 50% do not even repay the investment (Boglarsky, 2005). Common reasons, assumed by experts, are lacking preparation, management mistakes and insufficient compatibility. The explanation why M&A¿s are still so attractive are the very high profit opportunities. (Wirtz, 2003)

This research aims to investigate on the importance of strategic management and corporate governance for the success of M&A¿s. It will provide deeper understanding of the relationship between those very important aspects and the success of one of the most critical investment strategies. To conduct the research, two very different Mergers of DaimlerChrysler and Sony Ericsson were analysed and compared.

The DaimlerChrysler merger on the one hand is often regarded to as one of the best examples of failure. Taking the situation before the merger, it could have been a very successful event. Mismanagement and lacking implementation of corporate governance though, destroyed every possibility of a profitable future.

Sony Ericsson on the other hand is a very successful Joint Venture, even though there were some difficulties at the beginning. Thanks to a very clear vision, culture and the determination to learn, Sony Ericsson is today one of the leading companies in the mobile market.

We are interested to see, how the theory of mergers and acquisitions can be applied to companies of our day to day life and how important strategic management and corporate governance really are for the success of a company.